Cheers & Jeers

New Browns CEO Joe Banner spent part of Tuesday at the Cleveland Food Bank, packing boxes. Banner was among a number of Browns front office employees and players who took part in preparations for the food bank's Thanksgiving distribution. Associated Press, Mark Duncan

CHEERS . . . to the many institutions and individuals who prepared and served Thanksgiving meals to people who couldn't have come up with turkey and the trimmings any other way. These annual acts of service give people down on their luck something for which to be thankful.

JEERS . . . to the people who started going just a little bit crazy over Black Friday as far back as a week ago. Mere eccentricity can't explain people who camp out for days on end so they can be first in line at the local electronics store.

CHEERS . . . to Cleveland Museum of Natural History paleontologist Michael Ryan, who was in on the ground floor of identifying a previously unknown species of horned dinosaur: Xenoceratops foremostensis. If you missed Plain Dealer reporter John Mangels' excellent explanation of how the find came together, you owe it to yourself to catch up with it at tinyurl.com/xenoceratops.

JEERS . . . to the seemingly ever-rising tide of merchants and media that jump the gun on playing Christmas music. There really, really can be too much of a good thing. And striking up "Jingle Bells" the minute the kids get home from trick-or-treating pretty much guarantees way too much of a good thing.

CHEERS . . . to members of the U.S. military, who find themselves all over the world at a time of year when homesickness can be particularly acute. Americans owe those men and women a great debt of gratitude for the sacrifices they make on the nation's behalf.

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